Laramie Rangers Baseball Makes 2013 Debut

It's a brand new season for the Laramie Rangers American Legion Baseball program, as they get started with four games in Casper this Mother's Day weekend. The Rangers will face Cheyenne, two Casper teams and Jackson in action at Mike Lansing Field.

The Laramie Rangers return six starters and seven total players from last year's varsity team that finished 30-20 and in third place at the 'A' level of Wyoming American Legion baseball.

Now in his second year at the helm of the program, Rangers manager Rich Wilson says, "I feel a little more comfortable, in the fact that I know what to expect. I'm a little more prepared this year."

That has led to adjustments by Wilson in terms of, "Just knowing what we need to work on, practice-wise. Last year I know I tried to get everything in. This year we've spent a lot of time on what I knew we needed to work on. We've done a lot of drills on just catching and throwing the ball."

They are led by returning seniors Abel Casas, Tommy Johnson and Alex Jordan. Jordan is the leading returning hitter from last season with a .352 average at the plate. He had 56 hits, which included six extra-base hits, scored 35 runs and drove in 30 runs. Johnson hit .320 last year and led Laramie with 58 total hits, including 17 extra-base hits, 61 runs scored, 41 stolen bases and tied for team lead with 38 walks drawn. Casas hit .321 in 2012 with 34 runs batted in at the plate and also went 8-3 on the mound with a 4.16 ERA and two saves. He threw 69 innings last season.

Drew Burman, Chance Jones and Kasey Bernaski are the other returning starters from 2012, while Nate Hill got quite a bit of experience last year, as well.

Wilson admitted they'll lean on those veterans a lot early on, "We ask them to take the young guys and show them different drills. We're asking them to step up a lot and be role models." What I got from them last year Wilson said was, "They're leaders and they're competitors, but they're silent. They're not that out-spoken, but they step up. I feel lucky with the staff that we have, the coaches we have and the players. It's just a really good group."

The numbers are still not where Wilson wants them to be, as 22 players are going to be split between the varsity and junior varsity (Laramie Deputies) rosters. They've even added a prep team in 2013, the Laramie Marshals, that are already underway with their season. The Marshals are 11-6 so far.

Going into the opening weekend of action, Wilson says it's a chance to see everybody this weekend, "We're probably looking at either two innings or 30 pitches for the pitchers. Everybody should get some quality at-bats. Depending on our position players and our opponent, I'm not sure what it will be like. If they have younger kids, then we can put younger kids in. If we need the older kids, we can compete with them."

Laramie will face Cheyenne and the Casper Oilers on Saturday at 2:30 and 5:00 p.m. Sunday sees the Rangers taking on the Casper Drillers and Jackson at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.